This week, freshman U.S. Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., introduced a proposal to give immigrants who have been in the U.S. on an E-2 treaty visa investor visa for more than 10 years a path to permanent residence.
Rutherford brought out his proposal to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act this week with U.S. Rep. Ann Kuster, D-NH, as a co-sponsor. The First Coast Republican says his proposal will help more than 100,000 people and businesses across the country.
“E-2 visa holders are entrepreneurs bringing their abilities, resources, and jobs to the United States,” Rutherford said on Tuesday. “They pay taxes and invest their livelihood into the communities they serve. They deserve to be able to plan for their businesses, employees, and especially their families. I want to change this outdated law so they can continue to create jobs and be fully integrated into the communities they have invested so much. This bipartisan legislation is a much needed update to current immigration laws that will provide opportunities for entrepreneurs to establish small businesses and roots in our communities.”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, notes “E-2 nonimmigrant classification allows a national of a treaty country (a country with which the United States maintains a treaty of commerce and navigation) to be admitted to the United States when investing a substantial amount of capital in a U.S. business.” Applicants must have “at least 50 percent ownership of the enterprise or possession of operational control through a managerial position or other corporate device.”
Besides giving people in the U.S. under an E-2 treaty investor visa for a decade a path to permanent residence, Rutherford’s proposal also lets their children stay in the U.S. until they are 26. Currently children of E-2 visa holders must leave when they are 21 unlike other visa categories in which immigrants can apply for permanent residence.
Making the case for his bill, Rutherford noted First Coast residents Mauricio Ramirez and Helga Langthon came to America in 2001 and qualified in 2008 to have a E-2 Treaty Investor Visa as they built SOHO Network Solutions, Inc. which has been named “Small Business Exporter of the Year” by the U.S. Small Business Administration, “Exporter of the Year” by the U.S. Department of Commerce and honored repeatedly by Jacksonville Business Journal as a top minority-owned business.
The bill was sent to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Monday.
A career law enforcement officer who served three terms as sheriff of Duval County, Rutherford was first elected to Congress last year, replacing longtime U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., who retired that year. Despite being a freshman, Rutherford has made his mark on the U.S.House Homeland Security Committee and has called for cracking down on illegal immigration.
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